1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device of the TCP (tape carrier package) type that is continuously manufactured from a tape carrier having semiconductor chips mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, more integration of semiconductor chips mounted on a tape carrier is demanded, and the number of projecting electrodes that are formed on the semiconductor chips are increasing. Accordingly, the number of inner leads formed on the tape carrier is also increasing. If the inner leads and outer leads are arranged with certain intervals in order to avoid short-circuiting between adjacent inner leads and between adjacent outer leads, the size of the semiconductor device becomes large.
If the width of the inner leads and outer leads is reduced in order to reduce the size of the semiconductor device, the strength of the inner leads and outer leads themselves is lowered, the strength of adhesion with the projecting electrodes of the semiconductor chip is lowered, and the strength of adhesion with the wiring terminals of the mounting circuit substrate is reduced.
In order to deal with the problems, a conventional TCP type semiconductor device has the following structure and meets the demand for increased circuit integration of the semiconductor chip. Copper foil is adhesively laminated on the front and rear surfaces of an insulating base film made for example of polyimide, and inner leads are formed on both faces of the base film by patterning by means of etching the copper foil. The inner leads formed on the rear face are directly joined with projecting electrodes formed in a single row on the outer face of the semiconductor chip by hot pressure fixing. The inner leads formed on the front face and the projecting electrodes formed in a single row on or near the middle of the semiconductor chip are joined by wire bonding (see for example Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid Open) No. H. 3-276737, in particular the lower left column in page 2 and FIG. 1).
In the prior art described above, the inner leads formed on the rear face and the projecting electrodes formed on the outer face of the semiconductor chip are directly joined by hot pressure fixing, and the inner leads formed on the front face and the projecting electrodes formed in the middle of the semiconductor chip are joined by wire bonding. Thus, the step of joining the inner leads with the projecting electrodes of the semiconductor chip in the TCP-type semiconductor device manufacturing process is divided into a joining step using hot pressure fixing and another joining step using wire bonding. It is therefore necessary to install equipment for the wire bonding and to ensure sufficient space for this installation.